Angry Birds Flashmob at SXSW 2012

On Tuesday the high noon innocent bystanders outside the Austin Convention Center saw a real-life confrontation between birds and pigs when an Angry Birds flashmob took over the street for four minutes of unrestrained fun.

It took the conference attendees by surprise when, without warning, a woman in a red 'bird' shirt began dancing in the middle of the busy street.

Her flighty dancing was soon met by a taunting male green-shirted pig - and then a sounder of swine revealed themselves by ripping off jackets and sweatshirts. A red-shirted flock behind the red bird responded in kind, and then the game was on.

Angry Birds Tees was on hand to give out piles of free merchandise, most especially t-shirts. Flashmob participants were recruited locally, and the 60-80 dancers learned the routine in two days.

This flashmob was part of the Angry Birds Space Tour, on a scheduled Austin stopover. The final event will be in Las Vegas on March 17th.

Pigs - are the from the dark side of the moon?

Celebrating the March 8 announcement of Rovio's new Angry Birds In Space - in cooperation with NASA - the surprise dance-off began on Tuesday at 12:30 PM with portable loudspeakers blasting Star Trek's famous "where no man has gone before" opening lines.

Petit spoke in a Rovio broadcast from the International Space Station for the online announcement. In the video, he uses Angry Birds In Space to explain the properties of physics in space, including a demonstration of a catapult in zero gravity using an Angry Bird:

I caught up with with Peter Vesterbacka, CMO and Mighty Eagle of Rovio Entertainment and Angry Birds, in the Austin Convention Center and we chatted about their exciting new NASA projects.

Vesterbacka explained that Rovio will also be working with NASA and partnering with National Geographic Books on an official companion book to the Angry Birds Space game. The book's aim will be to combine the allure of Angry Birds whimsy with educational information for kids.

He discussed all of this with me while cheerfully sporting head-to-toe garb and accessories clearly identifying him as a red bird in the SXSW convention wild.